User Submitted Cryptid Sighting: Mystery Creature

Date of sighting: Early Spring, 4 in the afternoon (Specific date kept private at request of witness)

What you believe the creature was: The witness refers to the creature as the “Dog Pig Bear Cat”

Message: *Note from the PBI: specific street names as well as personal details are being withheld from the below message at the request of privacy from the witness. Communication between ourselves and the witness, as well as other investigators has taken place regarding the sightings below and they have been verified as authentic*

“First off some quick bio information: my husband and I are both in our 50s. I grew up on a dairy farm outside of [withheld]. My husband has lived in Beloit since about age 7 and [withheld] before that. Both our extended families are also in this area. We are atv'ers and also take long drives for fun, so we are very familiar with the area and the types of things you see around here. We have seen some things that we could not immediately identify, but with the help of Google, we did. Like the time we saw the brown bowling pin like things that happen to be crane chicks. But until the day we saw the “Dog Pig Bear Cat”, nothing struck us as weird, it was all just normal stuff we didn't know about yet.

I believe this happened early spring before the field was plowed and the trees were in. It would of been around 4 in the afternoon. The sun was lower but not setting, so full daylight. When we first saw it, our first thought was that it was a bear. It was dark against the tree line and seemed to be on it's hind legs. A bear in Rock County would be odd, but not outside the realm of possibility. So we stopped our vehicle and looked at it for about 30 seconds before another car came. We took off back down the road but could see that the car had also slowed down to look. As we drove we also discussed other possibilities as to what it could be, perhaps an incredibly large dog or a even a large pig (there might be a farm that had some that got out). That's when my husband decided to go back for another look.

When we drove past it again, it was walking across the field towards the road. He did a u-turn on [withheld] and pulled on the shoulder across from it. This is where everything just gets weird. Up until this point I objectively believe my husband and I, and the people in the car behind us, just saw a strange animal in the field. The rest of this story is my subjective experience.

The animal was coming towards us. It moved like a cat, graceful with a long flicking tail. It didn't look like a cat though, except for the head. It was dark, but not black, brindled, with dark browns with some black. The fur was short like a dog with some glossiness to it. It's head was massive and triangle shaped, the eyes were large and green. The head looked so robust, like you could hit it with a bat and it would break the bat. It was flat like a cats, no snout like a dog or bear. It's chest was also triangle shaped and really muscular with legs that came down like a bulldogs. The back end was a smaller triangle with legs that came off like a German Shepard. This thing was big and solid muscle. I think the top of it's head would of came to my chin, so about 4 foot. The tail was about the same length as the body.

Now for the weird parts, as we pulled up next to it, it was about half way across the field. It moved at us, but not aggressively, almost ambling. This was what was confusing, it moved like a cat, but it didn't look like one. The whole time I had the feeling it knew we were watching and found the situation amusing. Also the longer you watched it, the harder it became to see it. Like it's edges were blurring. It got to about 30 feet from the road and laid down, in a c shape, just like a cat. It was staring at us and I was staring at it. But the longer I looked at it, it almost seemed to become pixelated. I don't know how long this lasted, with a feeling of amusement on its side and wonder and confusion on our part. It changed in a heartbeat, the feeling that it could come through my window and bite my head off and my husband hitting the gas both seemed to happen at the same time. Eventually, when we were at the stop sign on [withheld] it hit me, I felt like a complete idiot because I had my phone and could of taken a picture of it. I looked at my husband and he goes, “how was there no traffic?” It seemed like we had been parked there for at least 5 minutes. Then he said, “it was a dog”. It was said in the tone of voice that says please let that of been a dog. If you ask him now he will tell you we just saw a deformed dog. I think he really needs it to be a dog, where as I'm ok with living and not ever knowing.

The stranger part of this story though happened the next day. I was at work telling my co-worker about this and she looks at me a said "you saw that too?" So apparently she had seen the same thing but on a different day. I wish I had known my co-worker had seen something though before I told her about it so we could of written down our impressions without me influencing her. We started calling it the “Dog Pig Bear Cat” after that because we don’t know what it is and we don't have a good explanation. Also, in a weird postscript to the story, I was telling my mom about this at a different time and she said "that area is where I saw the strange deer". She couldn't really articulate what made this deer strange, just that it was strange.

I still drive that way all the time and I always look. After both my co-worker and my mom seeing something strange there as well, I've wondered if there's more. I think it was our turning around that brought us to it's attention and changed the whole thing from just seeing something strange, to seeing something seriously “WTF”. I strongly feel that it was amused by the experience until it got bored and scared us to make us leave. I'm including a badly drawn sketch, I have no talent but it does convey the general idea of what was seen.

Sincerely, L.F.”

Wow! What a sighting! Thank you so much L.F. for contacting us about your encounter. What makes this sighting even more amazing (in my opinion) is that this sighting took place only a few minutes from where I live. I also drive this way every day for work and know the exact area you are talking about! What a small spooky world we live in for sure.

Now I have to say, when you first contacted me, the original email did not contain nearly as much information as this second one. So after reading the way you described the creature the first time, my mind instantly went to the possibility that you saw a Shunka Warak’in. A strange creature that resembles a cross between a wolf and hyena. It is reported to have a somewhat dark fur color, slopped back, and high shoulders. It was first officially described in 1977 in Montana, but since that time, these creatures have been spotted all over North America. There has even been a few sightings of this creature in Illinois as recent as the early 2000’s.

But when we spoke the second time, the image of this creature grew even larger. Additional details that you provided helped morph this creature in my mind from a Shunka Warak’in to a completely different creature. It went from resembling a possible dog-like creature, to a more feline based one. Soon, I was thinking of a straight up ABC, or for those that are unfamiliar with the term, an Alien Big Cat.

Now, what an ABC is is basically a large predatory cat (think mountain lion/cougar/panther/etc.) that is spotted in an area where it does not belong and is said to not exist. These large mystery cats have been spotted all over the world and have never been fully proven, but have also never been able to be fully debunked. A lot of evidence to them existing has been gathered (such as footprints, videos/photographs, eyewitness accounts, etc.), but a specimen has never been captured to fully prove that ABC’s are thriving in an area where they are not supposed to be. So, to possibly verify that what you saw could have legit been an ABC, I contacted two researchers and good friends of mine, Tobias Wayland (of The Singular Fortean Society) and Aleksandar Petakov (of Petakov Media). While my knowledge of ABC’s does somewhat exist, it falls flat in comparison to these two fantastic researchers.

After speaking with them and giving the details, they both came to an agreement that what may have been witnessed was a possible rogue Mountain Lion. When these two compared your description of the creature to accounts they have gathered from around North America (with a strong focus on the East Coast), it seemed to check all the boxes. Also, they informed me that the Wisconsin DNR has somewhat subtlety confirmed that while Mountain Lions are no longer considered a native thriving species in Wisconsin and Illinois, they have started increasing their territorial range and have been seen more and more frequently over the years in the Midwest. The DNR has even gone so far as to set up a page on their official website urging people to report possible sightings of big cats in Wisconsin so they can determine if they are actually here to stay.

Now though, I always have to play devil’s advocate when it comes to sightings such as these because when it comes down to it, I wasn’t there to see what you saw. I, as well as my colleagues, can only make the best possible guess from how we interpret the evidence given to us. So what we are envisioning in our minds, may in fact be the complete opposite of what you, your husband, your co-worker, and your mother saw. This world is a big place and a lot of unknown creatures can reside inside it, so the door is always open for something unknown to come walking through.

One of these possible unknown creatures that comes to mind which you may have possibly saw, is what is known as a Cat Sith. While this creature tends to stick closer to the side of the strange and fantastical (where as an ABC is more grounded in reality), researchers do believe it has roots in reality. So what is a Cat Sith? Basically, it is what is known as a fairy cat. It originates from Celtic legend and is said to be a cat that stands as tall as a large dog or calf. It has roots in both witchcraft as well as the paranormal. Could this mythical cat possibly be the creature you saw that day? It could yeah, but I honestly just don’t know, and I don’t think we will ever truly know.

What I can say for certain though is your sighting was one of the most thrilling encounters I have had the pleasure of researching thus far. I am honored that you chose to contact me to share this and I truly hope that you have the opportunity to see this creature again, albeit from a safe distance away of course!